1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to water reclamation systems and methods, and more particularly to low-cost and high-efficiency water purification and reclamation systems.
2. Background and Related Art
One of the most important and limited resources in many locations around the world is clean water. In many locations, people suffer from inadequate supplies of clean water for drinking, agriculture, and many other uses. In many such instances, water is available, but is unusable due to contaminants, salts, and other impurities. Such water includes human waste water, agricultural waste water, industrial waste water, waste water from other processes, runoff water contaminated by ground contaminants, water in seas and oceans, etc. Currently-available systems and methods for treatment and purification of such water are expensive, inefficient, and ill-adapted for satisfying current and future needs.
One indicator of water quality is total dissolved solids (TDS). TDS are defined as the quantity of dissolved material in water, and are typically expressed in units of milligrams per liter (mg/l). One way to estimate the TDS in water is by measuring a water sample's conductivity. Conductivity is the ability of a material (in this case water) to conduct electricity. Pure water is not very conductive, while contaminated water conducts more electricity due to the dissolved solids and salts that carry electric charges. Therefore, measuring the conductivity of water indirectly indicates the amount of TDS in the water.
Conductivity may be measured in micromhos per centimeter (μmhos/cm) or microsiemens per centimeter (μS/cm). These are equivalent units of measure that can be used interchangeably. For reference, typical conductivity ranges for different sources of water are as follows: pure water—0.055 μS/cm; distilled water—0.5 to 3.0 μS/cm; melted snow—2 to 42 μS/cm; drinking water—30 to 1,500 μS/cm; freshwater streams—100 to 2,000 μS/cm; ocean water—on the order of 32,000 to 56,000 μScm.